Chuck Versus Complete Control
by Ageless Shadow
Summary: What would have happened if the team had been too late? Would Chuck have been the same person they set out to find? Based on "Chuck Versus Phase Three." AU
1. Prologue

**My first Chuck fic! As I said in the description, I came up with the idea for this after watching "Chuck Versus Phase Three." I know this is probably a generic idea, but oh well! What if the team had been too late to save Chuck? Would he still be the same person that they set out to find? This is based on the order to "erase everything from his mind but the Intersect." **

**I do NOT own Chuck in any way, shape, or form! If I did...*snickers*  
**

**Prologue**

Everything seemed to be in slow motion. He was in a room, filled with furniture that seemed to fit together picture perfectly, but he didn't pay attention. His attention focused solely on the window in front of him. Almost as instantaneous as his appearance in said room, the window shattered in front of him, but they didn't fall to the floor.

Slowly, they glittered past him, each reflecting a different person, a different moment in time. They all seemed familiar, yet he didn't know why, and he didn't care. His only concern was the window, and the unknown world outside of it. He took long, drawn out steps as he walked towards the opening, the glittering shards seeming to pass through him as though he were a ghost, intangible and unseen.

Suddenly a voice, soft and alluring, sliced through the air. The shards fell to the ground, each one chiming like a note in a music box, playing the sweet melody of his memories.

"_Chuck..."_

The voice was a woman's voice. He wanted to answer it, wanted to remember whom it belonged to, _needed_ to remember whom it belonged to, but he just couldn't.

"_Chuck, I'm here!"_

It was coming from his bedroom.

"This is just another dream," he said, his voice sounding strange, almost alien, to him. It was as though he was hearing it for the first time.

He shook his head and continued walking towards the window, but for some reason, it pained him to ignore the voice. But he had to keep going. He _needed_ to see what was beyond that window. But why was it so imperative that he should?

Unconsciously, his hand moved tediously toward the window pain. The minute his hand touched the wood frame, he felt a jolt of pain and his surroundings disappeared. All that remained was a white room. In the center of the floor was a small white stand, so white that it almost blended with the scenery.

He could hear the whirring of a machine, and he could see the small cube slowly rise from the desk, encased in a cylindrical glass tube.

_The Intersect._

Suddenly, it was as if he had no control over his actions. His hand thrust forward. He heard the sound of glass shattering, and soon his vision filled with frozen images, flashing by faster than the speed of sound. Blue bolts of electricity flowed like the waves of the ocean across the pictures, lapping hungrily at them and embedding them into the sands of his mind.

Then, the images stopped. As he glanced around the white room, dazed, the lightning-like currents seemed to engulf his body. He turned his head to look at his hand. It was stuck about an inch _in_ the Intersect cube.

He could hear the voice penetrate the barriers of his mind once more. For the first time, he could hear the desperation and sorrow that coated it.

"_Chuck, please come back! I lo—_"

A single tear slid down his cheek as a new voice took over: his voice.

"Reactivation complete. Intersect control back online in five, four, three, two—"

Then, there was nothing.

* * *

Yay for short openings! The next chapters will probably be late coming, due to schoolwork and clarinet recitals and all that. But I will continue this story!

Anyways, please read and review!

Rachel


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Chuck, listen to me! I'm here!" she cried, tears streaming down her cheeks as she begged for her boyfriend to wake up, to open his twinkling brown eyes and prove to her that everything was going to be alright. "I'm here! I came to rescue you. I'm right here, Chuck!"

No response.

"Chuck, please! Come on!"

Nothing. Not even a twitch.

She barely paid attention to anything but Chuck. For all she cared, the world could burn around them. If Chuck wouldn't wake up, why would it matter? To her, Chuck meant the world. She was _nothing_ without him. She truly loved him.

In the melancholy room where she, Casey, and Morgan had found Chuck getting the life literally drained out of him by the Belgian and his assistant, sinister machines beeped monotonously, seemingly mocking everything that she had done to save the love of her life.

She almost didn't hear Morgan when he spoke. His voice was soft for a man, but his words were strong with empathy. After all, Chuck was his best friend.

"Hey, hey, hey," he said, soothingly. "Tell him what you told me before, okay. He'll hear that, I _know_ it!"

Trying to conceal her sobs, she glanced back at him.

"This is your chance," he continued. "Don't—Don't be Sarah Walker, the spy. Be Sarah Walker, the _girlfriend_."

She turned back to Chuck. He looked like a small child, weak and vulnerable.

She gently cradled his head in her hands as she leaned over him in the operating chair. "Chuck, _please_. Chuck, I _love_ you! Please wake up. I have...I have so much that I want to tell you!"

She paused, taking in a deep breath, trying to think of the right words. Her voice strained and low, she continued, "I found your proposal plan."

She stopped as Chuck's head moved slightly, though she was unsure whether it was actually him waking up or her own doing. Through the unending darkness that she could picture as her future, she saw a small glimmer of hope, shining like the first star on a clear night.

"You...You were going to do it on the beach in Malibu, where we watched the sunrise after our first date."

She remembered that day. The warmth of that one moment where the sun's bright golden beams stretched out across the sky, mixing in with the blues and indigos of the coming dusk. Out of all the fleeting moments in her life, she remembered wanting that day to last forever.

She smiled as she added, "There were...several race cars involved." Her voice broke as she let out a soft sob. "Chuck, I want to spend the rest of my life with you! I don't care if you have the Intersect or not! Without you...I'm nobody. I'm nothing but a spy. Come back to me, Chuck! I want to marry you!"

She leaned down to kiss him. She put all of her love for Chuck into that kiss. And though he couldn't kiss back, it meant the most to her.

Before she pulled away, she noticed that his lips were cold to the touch, and she broke out into uncontrollable sobs.

Then she heard Morgan and Casey both gasp.

"Sarah!" Morgan shouted. She lifted her head. She could have jumped for joy when she saw those two beautiful brown orbs that she had so been longing to see.

"Chuck!" she cried, attaching herself to him and pulling him into another kiss. Suddenly, she retreated, shocked: he hadn't kissed back. She looked into his eyes, and her heart sank.

His eyes were devoid of all emotions, and his pupils like two gaping black holes that had taken them away. He stared blankly ahead for a moment, and the glanced about the room. His eyes rolled back into his head for a moment, and he let out short gasps of breath.

"Chuck, are you—?"

"Sarah Walker," he said, his voice as emotionless as his eyes. "The CIA Operative assigned to the current Intersect Project, a joint CIA-NSA black ops team located in Burbank, California."

Sarah shook her head in confusion. "Chuck?"

He turned his head to Casey, his normally stone-cold features scrunched up in bewilderment.

"Alexander Coburn, alias: John Casey. Rank, Colonel. Recruited into the NSA by—"

"Quit playing games, moron!" Casey's outburst caused Morgan to jump. Chuck turned his head to the two unconscious men on the floor.

"Adelbert de Smet. Also known as "the Belgian." Known for selling information to the Ring. Dr. Mueller, a neural scientist specializing in lobotomies. He—"

"Chuck!" Casey shouted. Angrily, he stomped over the young man and covered his mouth with his hand. "You are going to stop fooling around and act like your normal nerdy self, do you hear me?"

"Casey," Morgan said, his voice almost a whisper. "I think that he—"

"You can't be serious," Sarah murmured. "Are you saying that he doesn't...?" Her voice trailed off. Morgan just nodded.

Casey cursed under his breath, but he didn't remove his hand from Chuck's mouth. "That son of a bitch...When he wakes up..." He paused, smiling in maleficence. "He'll wish he'd never woken up." He turned to Sarah. "That is, unless you want a go first?"

"Casey—"

"Uh, guys." Morgan's eyes were wide with apprehension.

"What?" Casey asked, exasperated.

"Look..."

But he didn't have a chance. As soon as he turned his head, he was knocked backwards with an incredible force, and he found himself dazed. _Dazed_. John Casey, _dazed_.

Without even thinking, he jumped up and threw a punch at his attacker. Chuck dodged easily and did a back flip, kicking Casey square in the jaw. The colonel fell backwards again, catching himself before he fell completely.

"Walker, I'm gonna need some help here!" he grunted. Sarah glanced back and forth between Casey and Chuck, the confusion and emotional battle going on through her mind evident on her soft features. She looked to Morgan for guidance, but her shoulders slumped in disappointment as she saw him smiling in childlike awe at the battle that took place before them.

"Wow," he murmured. "This is epic!"

"Morgan!" she exclaimed.

He jumped and turned his head. "What?" After a while, he finally read the atmosphere and simply said, "Oh."

They heard low grunt followed by a thud and turned back to the fight. Casey was lying on the floor, unconscious, as Chuck leaned over him, ready to make his final move.

"Chuck, don't!" Sarah cried, but it was no use. He just wouldn't listen. It was almost as if he wasn't Chuck at all. That was the thing.

_He just wasn't Chuck_.

At least, he wasn't _her_ Chuck. This was the Intersect at work, a supercomputer made to retain all of the government's intelligence, gone deadly wrong. _That_ was what made up her mind. She _would_ save Chuck, no matter what the cost.

"Chuck!" she shouted again. Instead of waiting for him to turn, she charged straight at him, like a bull towards the flowing blanket of a torero. She plowed into him, knocking him sideways and seeming to confuse him.

Just as she bent down to check on Casey, she felt a sudden burst of pain across her jaw. She stumbled backwards and wiped her hand across her face, pulling back when she felt the warmth of a familiar sticky fluid. Blood.

Before she had a chance to think, Chuck kicked. She ducked and countered with a punch. He easily dodged and punched back. She grunted as the wind was knocked out of her lungs. The next thing she knew, she was on the floor, lolling her head backing and forth around the spinning laboratory.

In the blur, she could see Morgan leap on Chuck's back. Her vision went black for a moment, and she heard a shriek followed by a deafening crash. When she could see again, she saw Morgan's unconscious body lying atop one of the machines, shards of the broken plating scattered atop him.

She looked up in time to see Chuck spin to face her. His eyes rolled back into his head, his hands in fists at his side.

"Chuck..." she pleaded, hoping that some piece of the old Chuck—_her_ Chuck—would resurface, but it was no use.

The Intersect was mainly used for sharing intelligence between the NSA and CIA, but it was also a deadly strong weapon. It was a mistake to expose Chuck to the first one, but what was done was done. He had uploaded the Intersect 2.0. Now he was no longer in control.

He had flashed, and he was coming straight at her.

* * *

YAY! FINALLY!

VVV **If you don't want to here my self loathing, please ignore the following paragraph** VVV

And, this is probably the worst thing I've ever written. -_- But, you can't really blame me. I had the perfect idea on how to write it, got told to take the dog outside, came back and forgot EVERYTHING. Every time I almost remembered it, I was called away! D= But, this is _similar_ to what I had in mind. It's the same plot line, but I don't really think I expressed it right. :/

^^^**And I'm done! =D **^^^

Okay, anyways, please tell me what you think! If there is anything I can improve on, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE ...let me know. Thank you! =)

Oh, yeah. By the way...I honestly forgot the Belgian's name, so Adelbert de Smet is the closest I've got. ^^' Same thing with his doctor buddy. Those names were floating around, so I'm _thinking_ they go with the episode.

Thank you for reading, and please tell me what you think so far!

Rachel


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Sarah watched in disbelief until what she believed would mean her death. Morgan and Casey, both unconscious, even the possibility of getting help from anyone shot down. She could hold her own in a fight, but Casey could hold out longer, and he had already lost. She could never defeat the Intersect, she realized, especially if she was alone.

"But I can at least try," she murmured to herself. She jumped to her feet. Quick as a flash, she threw a punch. It hit, but the Intersect didn't seem to notice. He kicked above her head as she ducked below him. She slid her foot out in an attempt to kick his leg out from under him, but he effortlessly jumped over and kicked her square in the nose. The blood trickled down her face slowly and mockingly, as though it wanted her to suffer through watching her treasure try to kill her.

She wiped her arm across her face, ignoring the streak of red left behind. She leapt up once more, repeating the same thing. As the Intersect moved to dodge, she kicked, striking him in the chest. He flew back into the machinery, a loud _CLASH_ echoing off the closed in walls.

"Chuck?" she asked, stepping cautiously towards the rubble.

Nothing.

She stood on her toes to see above the broken bits of metal. Just as she did, the Intersect lunged out at her, locking his hands around her throat.

"Ch...uck..." she rasped, clawing helplessly to escape his clutches. Her lungs pleaded desperately for oxygen. She didn't remember when, but somehow she had been pushed up against the wall, for when she put her foot back to kick it made a loud _THUMP!_

Suddenly, she realized that even if she could escape, she would never actually do anything to hurt him. She stopped struggling and let her feet dangle, but her hands unconsciously stayed fastened to Chuck's.

And then, it stopped. She fell to the ground, gasping for air, her lungs gratefully taking in as much as possible. Confused, she slowly lifted her head towards Chuck. His eyes had clouded over with some unfathomable thought, and he just stood, looming over her like a giant. An unknown emotion, whether it was even an emotion at all, flashed through his eyes. His face maintained its blank, insensate expression.

Without warning, he left. He just walked over the unconscious bodies of the Belgian and his scientist as if they weren't even there, over the debris of lab equipment as though it didn't exist, and he left, hospital robe and all, into the jungles of Southeast Asia.

She could hear herself whisper his name, but her voice was too small for anything to hear. The last thing she saw was a slight movement out of the corner of her eye, and then she fell into merciful unconsciousness.

* * *

It was horrific. He could see everything that was going on, every hit, every kick, every drop of blood that fell to the ground. He could see, but he could not do anything. His eyes were like the barrier that prevented him from helping her. What was actually going on, though?

Occasionally, Intersect photos would flash through his eyes, but how did they work? Were they the cause of the disaster taking place? He watched as the two men fought, how quick they were both caught off guard, and how quick they fell into unconsciousness. The first man seemed tough; he didn't seem the type to pass out from a single blow to the head. The other seemed extremely weak to begin with, so it was no surprise that he was knocked out before he could attack.

And then there was the woman. She fought gallantly, the compassion in her eyes the fuel that allowed her to fight such an opponent. But who, exactly, was the opponent? It seemed unreal, as though he were looking at the scene through another person's eyes. Was that what was happening? Could he, perhaps, be the good half that was trapped by the bad? Too many questions and the only answers he could give were mere speculation.

Passively, he watched as a hand latched itself to the woman's throat. She struggled to break free as she was slowly pushed against the wall. Then, the hand let go and she fell. It was as if the attacker had been struck into realization of his actions. Suddenly a message flashed like a marquee across his vision, but he couldn't read it.

And, just like that, the scenery changed. Everything was a blur.

"No..." he murmured, his voice echoing through the nothingness around him. "Please, help them..." His voice remained unnoticed, just as another voice penetrated the force field that protected him.

_"Chuck..."_

_

* * *

_

As she opened her eyes, she noticed she was no longer at the Belgian's hideout. It took a moment before she recognized the government issued computers and "decor."

"This is castle," she whispered.

"General, if we can find him, maybe we can—"

"_Those are your orders, Agent Casey._"

She sat up to try to pick up more of the conference. She heard Casey's grunt and pictured him straightening his posture and standing at attention.

"Yes, General." His voice was laced with cleverly disguised disappointment and annoyance.

"_Are we clear?"_ General Beckman's voice was seemingly unemotional, as always.

"Yes, General."

_What are the orders?_ Sarah thought, though she already knew what they were.

"_When Agent Walker wakes up, please brief her. Your mission is to find the Intersect, and terminate him." _

_

* * *

_Sorry for how long this chapter took for me to put up, especially because it tends to get worse near the end. A lot of things happened in the past two weeks that really took away my will power... :(

Anyway, please tell me what you think. What was wrong with the chapter? What was right with the chapter? Even if you have something bad to say, just review! That way I can improve. :)

Rachel


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Terminate?" Sarah exclaimed, her voice overflowing with rage and hurt. As soon as Casey saw her coming towards him, he ended the conference with the General. "How could you just _stand there_ and say _nothing_ while she orders you to _kill_ Chuck?"

She started to throw a punch, but his strong hand caught her fist and held it in place. "Walker, listen to me," he began, his voice slightly softer than normal, but still maintaining its strict military feel. "I don't like this any more than you do, but—"

"But what?" she asked, practically hissing. "Orders are orders? Go ahead, find Chuck and kill him. But you'll have to kill me first."

Then, it was as if something struck him. His expression darkened. "Are you sure you want to go through this again? You'd be committing treason, and I doubt General Beckman would be so lenient this time," he warned.

Sarah rolled her eyes. "If I've already committed treason for Chuck once, do you really think I'd consider following orders _now_, when it's the _Government_ that wants him dead?

"Good point."

"Either way, I wouldn't care," she said fiercely. "Without Chuck, I'm _nothing_. You already saw, I would do _anything_ to get him back, and will." She yanked herself out of his grip and took a step back.

"Walker-"

"You aren't going to stop me," she said, starting to leave.

"Wait!" Casey called. She gave him a questioning look. "You didn't think you could go without me, did you?"

* * *

Devon Woodcomb sat fiddling with the strange laptop on the coffee table. Occasionally, as he tapped on the keypad, the streaks of green light on the cover would flash, causing him to jump back as though he thought that it could explode at any second.

Quietly, he brooded over what was written on the screen: knock knock. Under it, there was a box for a password, but absolutely nothing that he could come up with worked. He'd tried, "Who's there?", "Yes?", "Who is it?", even, "GO AWAY." He didn't want his wife, Ellie, to worry about something like that laptop, which almost certainly had something to do with Chuck and his so-called previous spy-life, but there was nothing that he could do.

He wasn't even the one who had gotten the laptop to work. He had gotten Lester and the other Buy More Nerds to fix it, at the price of free medical treatment. Sure, their work had paid off to _some_ extent, but it wouldn't calm his nerves, and he had a feeling that Ellie wouldn't be satisfied.

Which is exactly why he nearly jumped out of his seat when he heard the lock on the door _click_ as Ellie Woodcomb came walking in the door, pregnant and looking exhausted.

Nervously, he threw on a smile and said, "Hey, babe. You're home early."

She stopped and rested her tired eyes on Devon with exasperation. "Devon," she began, "I just worked a _full_ shift. I am _not_ home early." She sighed and dropped her bag on the table, making 'Captain Awesome' have to turn to watch her expression, which he was sure would _not_ be awesome.

"I've got good news," he started, with his best smile. "Your husband has fixed this computer."

"Oh, honey, that's amazing!" she exclaimed, her eyes lighting up as she hurried to take a seat next to him. "You are amazing." She planted a kiss on his cheek and eyed the screen.

"But, it needs a password," he continued, wondering what his wife's reaction would be. As she read the clue, he added, with a small chuckle, "I've already tried 'Who's there?'"

For some reason, he had expected her to be furious that there was a password. What he did not expect was for her to smile.

"I know what it is," she murmured, beaming. Mentally, Devon's jaw dropped. At his look of complete shock, she said, "When I was a little girl, I would always mess up the knock-knock routine. My dad would say, 'Knock knock,' and I would say, 'I'm here!'" She paused for a moment. "It made him laugh so hard I never wanted to do it right."

After a few moments, Devon leaned over and typed, "I'm here," into the bar. Hesitating just for a small, almost non-existing moment, he hit enter.

The computer whirred as it sprung to life, the screen lighting up as thousands upon thousands of files jumped onto the screen. There were cross-sections of the human brain, diagrams, complex mathematical equations, and an almost uncountable number of files that were labeled, "Intersect."

Ellie looked over each file as it popped up, only to be replaced by another. In awe, she murmured, "Oh, my God...This is my father's research!"

* * *

Five men. A team of _five_ men. It was not much, no, but General Beckman had assigned them to find Charles Carmichael and kill him. They were one of her best teams. They easily tracked down his location, followed him, and cornered him. However, he had known that they were tailing him and had led them into a trap.

Now there was only one man left. They had only just drawn their guns when each of them flew back against the wall, the weapons falling uselessly to the ground. A few of them went off, shooting one man in the leg and another in the side. Carmichael knocked two of the remaining three with ease, and left one man cowering against the wall. _Cowering_.

And now, Carmichael was coming towards him. He stared into the emotionless brown eyes. The man looked so harmless. How could he cause so much? Now he could see why Beckman wanted Carmichael dead, as hands closed around his neck and he was lifted off the ground, helpless.

Then, blackness.

* * *

Only one name ran through his mind.

_Sarah_.

But who was she? She was the blonde-haired woman from before.

The computer in his brain told him, in essence, to forget about her. Its voice rang clear.

_Find Orion's computer. _

But who, or what, was Orion? Why would he want his computer? No matter how often he asked himself, he could never find the answer. No matter how hard he tried, he could gain no control over his actions. All he could do was sit back and watch as the body he came to know as the Intersect pulled him to where it wanted him to go, which seemed to be nowhere.

It seemed that the Intersect was being drawn to a certain place, but it was as if it did not know how to get there. Several times, he saw the same scenery pass by. A few times, the Intersect realized that it was being followed, and he begged it not to harm the tail, at least not in front of the innocent people who just happened to be walking by.

Somehow, part of his voice got through. The Intersect turned a corner into a secluded area and turned.

There were five of them, and each had their weapons pointing directly at the Intersect. Images flashed across his vision, and almost as quick as they had ended, four of the men were either unconscious or could not move.

The fifth man was backed against the wall, fear filling his gray-blue eyes.

Those eyes reminded him of something, and he practically screamed to the Intersect, "Don't kill him!"

The Intersect's hands closed around the man's throat. He tried to look away, but he was frozen, forced to watch as the man fell into unconsciousness for what would be the last time.

And then, it stopped. The Intersect jerked its hands away, and once more, everything became a blur.

* * *

I am so sorry for how long this took. Apparently writers block, thinking about what to buy twenty people for their birthdays (which ALL happen to be this month), and Algebra II don't mix. o-o

Anyways, if anything seems OOC or something, again I am so sorry. o_o

I hope you enjoyed! Please R&R. :)

Rachel


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

After he had woken up on the trip back to Burbank, Morgan had done absolutely nothing else besides worry about his best friend. Something was obviously wrong, and he could have sworn that the Belgian had said something about a lobotomy.

And he'd been in love with Ellie as a kid/adult long enough to know what a lobotomy did. After she came back from med school, she practically threatened to use him as a guinea pig. Not one of the better moments between him and Ellie, but it got the point across.

But they hadn't used any surgical equipment, so they couldn't have cut into his brain. That said fact aside, there was no reason to give Chuck a lobotomy! He was never one to be aggressive towards others and he wouldn't have fought them-he would have just said, "The Intersect is gone!" That machine couldn't have been giving Chuck a lobotomy. Unless, of course, it was like a medicine that did the same thing as a lobotomy. Like a chemical lobotomy, or something.

That was something, right?

Or, that machine could have been doing something completely different. Possibly something along the lines of an electric chair. Either way, there were only two things he was completely certain of: if they were going to help Chuck, they needed to know exactly what happened to him in the first place, and that he wanted to help Sarah and Casey help Chuck.

He jumped from his seat and raced out of his office, leaving the chair spinning behind him. He nearly sprinted to the Buy More exit, and as he reached the sliding doors, someone stepped in front of him and they both went crashing to the ground.

"Lester, why would you do that?" Morgan exclaimed. Jumping to his feet. The dark man got to his feet, and by the look on his face Morgan could tell that it was something that he didn't want to know about. Without thinking, Morgan said, "You know what, forget it. Just—do whatever you want."

Lester's face morphed into shock. "Wait—are you serious?"

"Yeah, sure."

With a small, nervous laugh, Lester said, "But you don't even know what I was going to say!"

"I don't care!" Morgan exclaimed, exasperated. "Just do it!"

He didn't even look before he bounded across the parking lot. Several cars screeched to a halt and the drivers yelled, "Get the hell out of the way!"

When he reached the Orange Orange, Sarah's CIA frozen yogurt shop, the first thing he noticed the "CLOSED" sign that swung back and forth in the window. He yanked at the door, and with surprisingly little effort it flew open.

Morgan jumped over the counter and into the back, where he opened his eye wide and stared straight into the CIA scanner. The screen identified him and said, "Access Granted." He waited for the _click_ as the door unlocked before bursting into Castle.

Everything was silent accept for the beeping of the various computers that lined the walls. With a sinking feeling, Morgan realized that Sarah and Casey had already left to find Chuck. He knew it was a good thing, because he knew that they were the only ones who could find and save his best friend, but it was also a bad thing, because it meant that he couldn't help them. It seemed as though they had looked through at least _some_ video footage in search of Chuck before they left, because said footage was still on all of the computer screens. Nothing was there now accept the rhythmic flash of lights.

Morgan narrowed his eyes to get a better look, and his expression drooped at the site of five men being wheeled away on stretchers to an ambulance, the source of the incessant flashing. They were being wheeled out from somewhere, apparently hidden from camera view. He knew that Chuck—no, the _Intersect_—had caused it, which was all the more reason that he _needed_ to help Sarah and Casey. Obviously they had reached the same conclusion, either that or they had seen Chuck before he nearly killed the men who looked as though they were barely clinging to life.

No matter, Chuck had already left. Sarah and Casey would never get there in time to find him, and by the time they _did_ get there, Chuck would have made it back to California.

So, Morgan pulled up more security camera footage of airports around the world, scanning for that familiar dark hair and a man whose head would poke out above the crowd. He searched city after city, for what seemed like hours. By now he realized that Sarah and Casey were probably long gone, but he didn't care. He'd just call them and tell him his findings, no biggie.

And then he found it.

Walking along with the crowd, no luggage whatsoever, and no expression but the drone-like emptiness, was Chuck Bartowski. Judging by the look of the crowd, he was exiting a plane. Sarah and Casey didn't know that... where were THEY going?

* * *

Disjointed images. A gaping hole in his memory that didn't want to be repaired.

Faces, smiling... the sound of laughter mixed with mindless chatter. It was impossible to tell the difference from what happened before, and what was happening now.

Shades of gray. Odd looks from strangers. White lights dancing across his vision.

And then, the sky. Surrounded by a brilliant blue, looking over the earth as mist began to swirl above it. A plane... He must be in a plane of some description...

But why would he be in a plane? Where was he going again? He closed his eyes, but the images refused to cease. Face after face... name after name...

And suddenly, when he opened his eyes again, he was no longer on the plane. He was being led by a massive crowd of people, mostly seeing only the tops of their heads. People pushed into him, and the computer threatened to fight back. With all of his might, he willed it to keep on going and ignore them.

And the Intersect somehow complied.

More images flashed before his eyes. Face after face... name after name... And no matter how hard he tried to remember,_ they meant nothing_.

* * *

Alright, I apologize for how late this is. I know there is no excuse, but here goes: first, it was just simple writer's block. Then, it was a computer virus that deleted my work. Then, it was a concussion... now it's exams and the Triwizard Tournament (don't ask ^-^')

I hope you enjoyed this latest installment! Please R&R!


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